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Recruiting Wishlist: Keisean Lucier-South

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via thebighousereport.com


Hi BN. Longtime lurker, finally felt it was time to start contributing!

Recruiting Spotlight: Keisean Lucier-South

The 6'5" 215 lb defensive end out of Orange Lutheran High School will wreak havoc on opposing offensive lines for one lucky school starting in 2015-2016. A 5 star recruit by 247 sports and consensus 4 star recruit by all the other major recruiting services, Keisean has rapidly gained national attention during his outstanding Junior season where he tallied 38 total tackles, 10 sacks, and forced 4 fumbles.

While there are typically discrepancies between talent evaluation services, a recruit's offer list tends to reveal exactly how highly the recruit is revered without bias. Keisean has an impressive 27 offers to consider, with 4 from the top 5 ranked teams and 12 from the top 25.

On July 28th, Lucier-South released his top 5: Oregon, Florida, UCLA, Michigan, and Oklahoma. Although these were allegedly in no particular order, 247's crystal ball shows him to be a UCLA lean over Michigan by a 2:1 margin. While Michigan is his "favorite school" and he's spending his first official visit there, I believe he'll end up a Bruin.

Lucier-South is spending his first official visit to Michigan on October 10th, the weekend of the team's night game against Penn State. Penn State ended 2013 with a strong 31-24 win over #14 Wisconsin to finish 7-6. Despite their inconsistencies, they did end up victorious over Michigan in a 43-40 4OT thriller. However, Michigan will be granted home-field advantage where they were 5-2 in 2013. If Michigan can put together a strong performance in front of a large home crowd, it could provide an insurmountable amount of momentum and fond childhood memories of his favorite program. However, a disheartening loss in below freezing weather on an early October night in Michigan could leave him dreaming of palm trees and roses.

Speaking of dreaming, it's not hard to imagine a young, impressionable Lucier-South aspiring to play in the big leagues.Getting discovered can be rough. If you aren't a consensus 5 star recruit from a high school football powerhouse program like De La Salle, it can be a long journey to get your first offer. Consequently, the first offer can have a lot of meaning for a recruit, as those coaches were the first to take a chance on a them before their official rankings are released. UCLA's coaches the first to offer Keisean a scholarship back in April 19, 2013. Only Miami, Oregon State, and Tennessee extended offers to him before he was rated by 247sports. You can additionally gauge a recruit's interest by observing where they spend their time. He spent his first unofficial visit at UCLA back in August 31, 2013, and followed it up with a second unofficial visit later in February 15, 2014. UCLA was the first and only school he unofficially visited twice.

He will also fit in well with the Bruins. A recruit must weigh how they will fit in the school's scheme. As there is minimal need for fullbacks in the Air Raid, a 6'5", 215 pound Lucier-South is not big or strong enough to play with his hands down in a 3-4. A team running a base 4-3 would likely be a stronger fit. While Michigan fans may think they hold the advantage here, they may be surprised. In the past two years under Lou Spanos, the Bruins have been running a base 3-4. This emphasized UCLA's greatest strengths while minimizing their weaknesses. UCLA's strengths tended to align on the front 7, with reliable line and linebacker production.

While it often left something to be desired, it wasn't the worst in the PAC. However, Bruin fans were used to getting burnt over the top. To ameliorate this, Spanos often pulled the linebackers back into coverage, thus opening up the front lines, resulting in porous running lanes. With the arrival of superior talent, the Bruins' secondary has quietly evolved into one of the most efficient units in the country, giving up very few big plays. The D-Line returns former 5 star Ellis McCarthy, 5 star Owa Odighizuwa, and 5 star Eddie Vanderdoes. Meanwhile, the strength of former Bruin defenses, the linebackers, is in a state of flux. They do return two of the most productive players in Myles Jack and Eric Kendricks, but the remainder of the squad remains unproven. Adding in former ESPN 300 DT and 4 star Kenneth Clark to the D-Line, it is clear why UCLA is trending away from their former 3-4 base defense.

Another important aspect of an appealing program is the direction it is trending; does it have the ability to place former stars in the NFL? In the class of 2010, UCLA recruited 6'4" 230 pound 4-star Anthony Barr out of Los Angeles. After struggling to find room on the offense for his first two years, he made the switch to outside linebacker and was rewarded handsomely. In 2012, he was named to the AP second-team All-American team, while gaining First-team All-Pac 12 selection by the coaches and Collegefootballnews.com's P12 Defensive Player of the Year. He led the team in sacks with 13.5, tackles for loss with 21.5, and second on the team in tackles with 83. His sack total was second in the nation, and his tackles for loss total was tied for fourth in the nation.

While many may believe that Barr had an outstanding year, they are quick to neglect the impact of having another beast lining up to his left. As a senior, Datone Jones was a monster on the line, demanding double teams while tallying 62 stops, 19 tackles for loss, and 6.5 sacks. Datone's consistent pressure relieved Barr, often allowing him to pin his ears back and attack the flanks at full speed. The following year, Barr returned without Jones and saw his production drop. He tallied only 66 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, and 10 sacks.

However, don't be so quick to point fingers at his game. In 2013, UCLA started a much younger and unproven back four. In hindsight, it was arguably the strength of the defense, but going into summer camp, it was D's main liability. A freak athlete, Barr was required to take on more responsibility in his 2nd year, which included opening his eyes and unpinning his ears. UCLA's 2012 defense was gouged by multiple mobile quarterbacks of lesser opponents, occasionally faulting Barr's reliance on his speed which left him overrunning targets and opening massive running lanes.

For example, Rice's McHargue carried 22 times for 95 yards, netting a 4.3 average with a 40 yard long. Nebraska's Martinez carried 13 times for 112 yards, netting a ridiculous 8.6 average, boosted by a huge 92 yard long. In 2013, Barr he stayed in his lanes more often, forcing the QB to respect his playmaking ability if he dared venture toward his part of the field. As a result, Nebraska's Martinez was limited to -13 yards on 10 attempts. Similarly, Nevada's Fajardo, a much more talented runner in a more efficient running scheme than Rice's McHargue, managed only 106 yards on 22 carries, netting a 4.8 average with a long of only 27 yards.

What does this all mean? Anthony Barr developed into an All-American first-round NFL draft pick after wasting spending his first two years on offense. Clearly coach Mora and staff know a thing or two about talent development. Lucier-South has a similar body type to Barr, and he knows what that can mean for his future. Edward Lewis of Rivals.com mentioned that "[A UCLA assist coach] said Anthony Barr was having trouble his first year, but his second year he did great. He said right now, I'm better than Anthony when he started." Lucier-South is already better than Anthony, who in his first year was 2nd in the league in sacks; he will additionally have a stronger D-line and more secure secondary than Anthony did in 2012.

During Barr's time at UCLA, he was able to cause so much damage due to the fact that the league loves passing and passing often. One aspect of the recruiting bid that can be underestimated is the fit within the league. A defensive end would thrive in the pass-first PAC 12, and likely struggle in the run-first Big 10; UCLA's 2013 opponents averaged 31 pass attempts per game, while Michigan's 2013 opponents averaged 26 pass attempts per game. While this may not seem like a large difference, consider that Michigan also played 7 OT periods while UCLA played none, thus creating two outliers: Northwesternand Penn State combined for 74 of the 215 pass attempts, or 34% of 2013 pass attempts faced in 2 games.

However, it doesn't matter what league you join if you can't get any playing time. It's always nice to win a recruiting war against your cross-town rival. In February 2013, Kylie Fitts chose the Bruins over Notre Dame and USC. However, he had trouble cracking the depth chart, tallying only 1 tackle in 2013. Though he has decided to transfer for "personal reasons" it is plausible to believe the former 4 star may be looking for a thinner depth chart. Stating his leave is for "personal reasons" is a convenient PR move that accomplishes multiple goals. Either way, it appears as though Mora has seen this coming for a while; according to ESPN, UCLA has offered scholarships to 16 DE's and 11 DT's. Though we may not be actively pursuing all 27 players, it does reveal that UCLA is investing in the defensive line's future, despite a plethora of talent already assembled.

While defensive line depth is desirable, offensive line depth can mean just as much to player development as anything else. A team with a stacked offensive line will be able to constantly challenge a defensive lineman during practice and scrimmages, whether it's the first, second, or scout team. UCLA's recent resurgence of offensive line depth would allow Keisean to get multiple looks at multiple talented guards and tackles, thus creating an atmosphere of challenge and growth.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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